The real-time televised saga of Jack Bauer came to an end last night as Day 8 of the long-running action series "24" came to a close. If it ended on more of a whimper than Sunday evening's "Lost" finale, it's probably because Kiefer Sutherland's Bauer isn't quite done with the spy life. He's just going to be playing it out on a much larger screen.
Plans for a "24" movie have been percolating as far back as 2006, when series star Sutherland told MTV that a script was in development. More recently it was revealed that "State of Play" writer Billy Ray had been hired to develop a script. Now that the series is over, showrunner Howard Gordon is speaking publicly about what's coming next.
"Another draft is being written [by Ray]," he said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "I don’t have a timetable. I think sooner rather than later is a good idea, but the people at Fox have their own timetable."
Sutherland is of course returning -- the series ended with him wanted and on the run from the government he once served -- and Gordon hopes that other key characters will be back for the movie as well. He stops short of confirming anyone however, explaining that the situation is "fluid" and "in the early stages."
While it is certain that the story will pick up in the aftermath of Day 8, that's really all there is. The plan has always been to make the "24" movie a bigger experience with a broader scope, but the mechanics how that will happen is unclear. Bauer is on the run in his home country and, as Gordon explained, he "can’t go to China, can’t go to Russia, and he probably can’t go to Africa either."
"In my mind, Jack is cut free but again he is a nomad," Gordon said. "He’s a man without a country. The very country that he has served and obviously sacrificed everything for has basically spit him out again and he is a fugitive."
Where would you like to see a "24" movie go? What did you think of last night's series finale?
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